Immigration
Regional processing arrangements and a climate citizenship programme
Immigration is dominated by two unusual features: hosting Australia's offshore asylum processing, and a citizenship-by-investment programme launched to fund relocation from the mined interior.
Key rules
- Deadline — Visas and residence permits are granted for limited renewable periods
- Deadline — Citizenship programme applications are assessed against due-diligence and contribution requirements
Governing law
- Immigration Act 2014 (s. 9)
- Asylum Seekers (Regional Processing Centre) Act 2012
- Naoero Citizenship Act 2017
- Refugees Convention Act 2012
In practice
Nauru enacted its own refugee determination framework to host Australian regional processing from 2012, and litigation about conditions, medical transfers and the legality of detention has proceeded in both Nauruan and Australian courts — making a state of about twelve thousand people a significant site of international refugee law. Separately, Nauru launched an economic and climate resilience citizenship programme granting citizenship for a substantial contribution, explicitly to fund relocating the population from the coastal strip to the rehabilitated interior. Given the EU's revocation of visa-free access for Vanuatu passports over due-diligence concerns, the durability of any benefit attached to such a passport should be treated as uncertain rather than assumed.